ERCAIAD - Regional School for Anti-drug Intelligence of the American Community

A Colombian counterdrug police officer demonstrates the process of illicit cocaine manufacture in a
mock clandestine laboratory for law enforcement training.

CICAD Executive Secretary Paul Simons exchanges signed agreements with then
National Police General Director Oscar Naranjo of Colombia, March 28, 2012,
Bogota.

ERCAIAD,
(Escuela Regional de la Comunidad Americana de Inteligencia Antidrogas) previously known as the Andean Regional Counterdrug Intelligence School,
is a specialized center for academic and operational training in the anti-drug intelligence field.
At its founding in 1999, participants came primarily from the ranks of police, intelligence and other institutions involved in fighting drug trafficking in the original Andean Intelligence Group countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). Participation has since been expanded to include other Latin American and Caribbean countries. In this way, the school now responds to the broader needs of all Spanish-speaking CICAD member states.

The name of the school changed to the American Community Regional Counterdrug Intelligence School
in 2011 and retained the ERCAIAD Spanish acronym.
Training seminars take two approaches: three or four-week intensives on strategic and operational intelligence and week-long workshops held in selected countries focused on specialized issues. Training modules are delivered by internationally recognized experts, coming from Canada, France, Germany, Spain,
Sweden and the United States, as well as from the participating member states themselves,
and international organizations, such as Interpol and UNODC.

More than 1,500 counterdrug law enforcement officers have attended training seminars at ERCAIAD over its 12 years.

The school recently shifted its headquarters to Bogota, after a decade in
Peru. The school's Multinational Executive Board includes representatives from the
six original Andean Intelligence Group member countries and OAS/CICAD’s Executive Secretariat.

In March 2012, the OAS and the Government of Colombia signed an agreement
that established collaboration in the fields of specialized training, technical
assistance and scientific research for a period of five years.

Among the courses to be offered are:

Intelligence applied to the technical control of objects and the use of new
technologies,

Intelligence applied to the fight against drugs (basic intelligence and
strategic analysis),

Intelligence for the identification and characterization of
production infrastructure for illicit drugs and the control of chemical
substances, and

Prospective analysis of the phenomenon of drugs and psychoactive
substances: impact and scope in the region

The ERCAIAD model has led Caribbean member state to request a similar
institution be created for the English-speaking Caribbean. With funding from the
Government of Canada, the CICAD Executive Secretariat has been working with
governments to determine how to create a sustainable operation in the region.